The Prosperous Era of Longwan

The guide ship gave way, and the Ming warships did not approach Malacca City, but continued to sail along the main channel.

"What's going on? Lopez Sequeira, can you give me an explanation?"

The governor asked curiously.

"Sorry, I can't answer."

Sequeira shook his head and smiled bitterly, "They don't need our guidance. Hey, are they going to cross the strait directly?"

At this time, in this golden waterway later known as the Strait of Malacca, more than a dozen Ming warships lined up in two columns and broke through the waves. They had no intention of docking and passed directly through the city.

Just as the Portuguese governor breathed a sigh of relief and began to think about what the Ming navy would do after passing through here and entering the Indian Ocean, a larger fleet gradually appeared in their eyes in the distance.

"Oh my God."

The fleet consisting of more than ten warships was already very large, but they didn't expect that there were more warships behind them.

"What are the Ming people going to do? With so many warships, are they going to attack somewhere?"

In the eyes of the Portuguese and Spanish, a merchant fleet is at most a few ships. If more than ten ships appear, they are generally hostile or are carrying out combat missions.

That's why he thought at first that the Ming warships appeared here for the Sultanate.

When the Portuguese occupied this place by force, the lord of Malacca, Ma Mo Sha, once sent people to ask the Ming for help.

However, although the Zhengde Emperor of the Ming Dynasty was angry at that time, he did not send troops to help him restore his country, but only cut off the trade between the Ming Dynasty and the Portuguese.

Such behavior will certainly not make the Portuguese give in.

They have established trade bases in Mombasa to the west of the Indian Ocean and Goa on the Indian Peninsula in the middle. Now they control Malacca, and their control has covered the entire Indian Ocean.

That is, after that, the Ming Dynasty encountered Japanese riots, and the Portuguese in the trenches chose to help the Ming Dynasty resist the Japanese pirates, and the relationship between the two sides began to resume contact.

At this time, the Portuguese governor had a serious face, holding a telescope and constantly observing the movements of the Ming warships.

What he was most worried about was that the Ming fleet would suddenly turn and rush towards Malacca.

The squadron that had passed by earlier was the force going to the west end of the strait to block the strait.

Although the Ming warships were considered very backward warships in the eyes of the Portuguese, they were numerous.

Moreover, Portugal had limited troops in Malacca, and even if they passed the news, by the time Goa, Calicut and other places formed reinforcements and arrived, their Malacca City would have been captured by the Ming people long ago.

"I don't know, sir."

Lopez Siqueira was a Portuguese naval officer who had long served as the commander of the convoy. Now that he was middle-aged, he chose to stay in Malacca and serve as the city defense commander here.

Well, this was the first crisis he faced after taking office, and the huge Ming fleet was approaching.

"How many warships do we have?"

"Four. If they really want to attack here, we can only use the firepower of the artillery to contain them, let the warships rush out, and go to Goa for reinforcements."

Lopez Siqueira immediately responded, "Everyone gather around the artillery, where we can rely on our cannons to resist for a while until the reinforcements arrive."

Malacca was built along the coast, so naturally there were no tall city walls. Only a relatively solid bastion was built near the mountaintop artillery to resist foreign invasion.

This was also the choice that Portugal had no choice because of its weak national strength.

He didn't believe that those low city walls could stop the Ming army coming aggressively.

Through the connection with the trench mirror, Lopez Siqueira knew that the Ming soldiers were already very skilled in using firearms and had good combat power.

These were the military skills trained in the years of encircling and suppressing the Japanese pirates, and also forced the Ming country, which had not paid much attention to it, to start shifting its attention to the sea again.

"Damn it, those dwarves are damned."

Thinking of this, Lopez Sequeira cursed in his heart.

According to the news he knew, if the Japanese dwarves hadn't invaded the Ming Dynasty, perhaps their government would not have paid attention to the ocean as a great treasure, let alone formed this huge fleet in front of them.

Even if they had such a fleet before, it was all in the past.

After the Portuguese entered the Indian Ocean, they heard many times about the feats of the Ming Navy more than a hundred years ago. They had sailed to some places in Africa, where such stories are still circulating.

Even at first, when their Portuguese merchant ships arrived, they were mistaken by the locals as Ming ships.

However, what they worried about did not happen after all.

The warships of the Ming South China Sea Navy did not mean to approach the city of Malacca, but continued along the route.

"Commander, there was news from the artillery just now. The Ming fleet began to turn 180 degrees after sailing to the westernmost end of the city. It seems that they are going back here."

At this time, a messenger came in from outside the door and delivered them an astonishing news.

"Governor, I need to go out and make some arrangements. Please draft a letter for help as soon as possible."

When Lopez Siqueira heard that the Ming fleet had returned, he felt even more ominous and said to the governor anxiously.

"Okay."

The Portuguese governor left the window and returned to his desk in the room. He quickly wrote several letters for help with a dip pen, signed his name, took out a seal from the drawer, stamped them, and handed them to Lopez Siqueira.

After Siqueira left, the governor returned to the window and continued to observe the movements of the Ming fleet with a telescope.

To the west, the Ming fleet that had passed through the city before had appeared, and it was on the other side of the Ming main fleet.

The two fleets maintained a strict formation and moved towards each other without any obstruction.

"The Ming navy is well trained. Unless all the warships in the Indian Ocean are assembled, there is really no way to win."

The Portuguese governor muttered in his heart.

"Come on, call the lady over."

The governor shouted to the outside, and a servant responded to call someone.

Siqueira had already arranged for the fleet to break through, and arranged the defense around the fort, and he had to let his family pack up and prepare to stay in the fort for a while.

This is the epitome of this era, everything is respected by strength.

When a huge force with unknown intentions appears, it is most likely to come for occupation and plunder.

The Portuguese and Spanish have done this a lot, and they naturally believe that the Ming people will do so.

However, everything they did was in vain.

When the wife of the Governor was still directing the Indian servants to pack up the family's property, more than 200 large and small warships of the Ming Dynasty's South China Sea Navy had completed this military demonstration, and orderly withdrew from the Strait of Malacca and headed towards the old port of Sumatra.

Although the Strait of Malacca is just a small dot on the globe, it is still a long way away in front of you.

But the South China Sea Navy entered the Strait of Malacca and made a detour, which was almost six or seven hundred miles.

There are still seven or eight hundred miles from the strait to the old port, which means that the navy traveled more than a thousand miles to return to the old port this time.

Although it was a bit hard, Yu Dayou and Deng Zilong also felt it was worth it.

Just based on the chaotic streets in Malacca City, the sailors who fled in panic at the dock, and the many additional manpower on the artillery platform, they felt that the Portuguese should be scared by them.

In fact, many people don’t know that the original Malacca City was a poor and backward coastal city. It was Parameswara, a fugitive prince of Srivijaya, who came here with about 3,000 men to establish the Malacca Sultanate.

However, soon, Emperor Chengzu of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Di, sent envoy Yin Qing to the local area to establish direct contact between Malacca and the Ming Dynasty.

About two years later, Zheng He’s fleet also visited the local area. Some records show that Zheng He himself may have stayed there for 6 days.

Parameswara himself also formed a delegation of up to 540 people and came to China with Zheng He’s fleet to pay tribute to the Ming Dynasty.

Emperor Chengzu of the Ming Dynasty also officially appointed him as the King of Malacca. Since then, Malacca has officially become a tributary state of the Ming Dynasty, and thus got rid of the control of Siam.

Before that, facing the pressure of Siam, the Malacca Sultanate chose to pay tribute to Siam. It is said that it must pay 40 taels of gold to Ayutthaya, Siam every year.

The intervention of the Ming Dynasty forces allowed the Malacca Sultanate to get rid of the control of Siam.

After that, when the Ming Dynasty learned that the Ayutthaya Dynasty of Siam and the Later Le Dynasty of Vietnam intended to invade Malacca, they sent envoys to warn them and helped Malacca avoid war.

So, in fact, Zheng He was very interested in the Malacca area a long time ago, and did not allow other forces to interfere, and even sent people to help build Malacca City.

However, later, because Zheng He sent troops to wipe out the pirates entrenched in the South China Sea and gained control of the Old Port, the Ming Dynasty established the Old Port Xuanwei Office.

Although the Old Port Xuanwei Office is not in the Strait of Malacca, it is only a few hundred miles away from the exit of the eastern end of the Strait, and it can still effectively control the Strait, so the Ming Dynasty shifted its attention from Malacca City to the Old Port.

At this time, in a large house in the Old Port City, a group of Han people also gathered here to discuss major events.

The news that the Ming Dynasty's South China Sea Navy sent troops to Luzon to wipe out the Lin Feng pirate group and divide Luzon with the Spaniards in Luzon had long been spread here from Java Island.

At first, the Han people here still didn't believe it.

You know, only a very small number of Han people who stayed here were those who followed Zheng He to the West. Most of them fled to Southeast Asia to make a living after the previous dynasty or the Japanese invasion.

They know more or less what the Ming Dynasty court is like now.

In particular, the so-called remnants of the Flying Dragon Kingdom are still entrenched in the northwest of Jiugang, and they have also brought a lot of news about the Ming Dynasty.

"Let's talk about it. The information from Luzon said that the Ming Navy went south this time to rebuild the Xuanwei Office of Jiugang. Although some people found that they went to Malacca first, there is no smoke without fire. Malacca was not the territory of the Ming Dynasty before.

I think this time, the Ming Dynasty will not use force to occupy there.

But our Jiugang used to have Xuanwei envoys, which belonged to the territory of the Ming Dynasty. They should come here soon."

After the leader spoke, the others lowered their heads and kept silent, and no one knew what they were thinking.

Seeing that no one spoke, the man said, "If the Ming court wants to restore Old Port, we certainly cannot resist and can only fully cooperate. What do you think?"

At this time, although Old Port still belongs to the Bazhang Kingdom in name, the influence of the Bazhang Kingdom has been greatly weakened, and it is exhausted from dealing with the pressure of the Matalan nobles, so the current Old Port is actually still controlled by a dozen Han families in the room.

After all, the total population of Old Port is only more than 10,000 people, half of whom are Han.

It is also because of this clan power that they can gain a foothold in the chaotic place of Nanyang.

And because they are mostly engaged in business, they also bought some firearms to protect themselves during the trade with the barbarians.

"If the court wants to come back, it would be the best, better than being controlled by other kingdoms."

"Not necessarily, the corrupt officials in the court are more ruthless than the sultans and kings when it comes to collecting silver.

Dealing with these people, we can sign a contract and pay some gold and silver on time, and they will not care about us here.

But if the court manages here."

"It's a pity that the Shi family has left, otherwise they can ask for the edict granted by Emperor Yongle that year, and perhaps we can govern ourselves and pay tribute every year."

Mentioning that the old port will soon be under the management of the Ming Dynasty court, the merchants are naturally worried, and they can't help but think of the situation introduced by their elders.

After a while of discussion, the opinions finally gradually converged.

"Well, after the arrival of the Ming navy, we will talk to them first to see what the court's rules are.

Let's make it clear here that if the court wants to find someone from us to be an official here, everyone should know what to do."

In fact, everyone knows that finding someone from the locals to be an official is just a temporary measure taken by the court to control this place as soon as possible.

All the people here, even if they can read and write, have never participated in the imperial examination of the court. Without fame, the court will not recognize them.

"As for taxation, this must be made clear to the court, how to collect it, if we can't reach an agreement, we will contact the gang in the north.

I think the court navy may not be here without their reasons."

Speaking of this, the man looked at the people at the table and asked, "What do you think, the heads of the families?"

Seven old men sat at a round table, the patriarchs of the seven strongest families in Old Port.

The other weaker families could only sit at the back and had little say.

However, although there is a gap in strength, everyone's goal is actually the same, that is, to preserve the family's hundreds of years of business in Jiugang, so that it will not be taken away by the Ming Dynasty.

"It is best to negotiate, each family will pool money, pay tribute to the court every year, and the court will protect Jiugang. This is also a good thing for each of us.

Now there are more and more barbarians, and I heard that there will be more barbarians here in the future.

I think everyone knows their style of behavior.

Before, when everyone was asked to buy some muskets and cannons when trading, wasn't it also for self-protection?

The strength of the Ming Dynasty court, if it does not enter Nanyang, naturally has to rely on ourselves.

But since they are back, they are naturally the most powerful force here.

Perhaps relying on the strength of the court, our business will be bigger. It is unknown."

After the man finished speaking, someone else echoed: 'It is natural for merchants to pay taxes. As long as it is reasonable, we are still willing to bear it. '

"Yes, as long as it can protect us and the tax is not too much, our Lin family has no objection."

"Master Zheng, you should talk to the court on our behalf."